The Yankees are expecting Alex Rodriguez to play 'every day' of the ALDS.PAUL J. BERESWELL

The Yankees believe Alex Rodriguez is over his nagging injuries and will be ready to play in Game 1 of the ALDS on Friday night.

New doubts came about after Rodriguez was scratched from the lineup Wednesday before the season finale against the Rays because he did not want to play another game on Tropicana Field’s turf with his surgically repaired knee.

“I have no doubt that he’s healthy enough to play every day,” manager Joe Girardi said when asked if he expects Rodriguez to play third base every day.

Rodriguez concurred, saying, “The knee is good. No concern.”

But the slugger admitted he is not 100 percent.

“I’m getting there,” Rodriguez said. “No one really cares about that. Everyone on the field tomorrow is going to have some bumps and bruises. Bottom line is we are all good enough to play here and there’s no excuses.”

If he cannot go at third base, the Yankees would have to move Rodriguez to DH, which would eliminate Jorge Posada’s spot in the lineup.

“My feeling is he’ll be healthy,” Girardi said of Rodriguez, who also dealt with a sprained thumb in the season’s final month. “But if he’s not, that’s a big player out of our lineup, or a big player that’s not at the top of his game. But my feeling, if last night was a postseason game, I’m playing him. That’s the bottom line.

“As I said, the time of year, we had to be somewhat cautious with some of our players because I would hate to lose a player on the last play of the season.”

The postseason also represents an opportunity for Rodriguez to make up for a subpar regular season, when he failed to hit 30 homers and drive in 100 runs for the first time since 1997.

“It’s a new season,” Rodriguez said. “That’s one of the great things about playing in New York, it’s about playing late and what happens in October. It’s the case for me and my 25 teammates … we play here for one reason and that’s to win a championship.”

Rodriguez was out from July 9-Aug. 19 after surgery to repair the torn meniscus. He missed another 18 games after coming off the disabled list because of the thumb injury and a desire to rest the knee.

Rodriguez said he has been working with hitting coach Kevin Long to get his swing back to normal.

“I think with my thumb injury I was trying to compensate a little too much,” he said. “Now that my thumb feels better we were just trying to get back to my basic swing, which is short strides and connecting.”

Girardi said Jesus Montero is fine after leaving Wednesday night’s game after getting hit in the right hand with a pitch.

“He’s OK,” Girardi said of the rookie who likely will be used as DH against lefties. “I saw him today. He’s fine. He got hit on the outside of the last two fingers. He’ll have a bruise, but I saw it. There wasn’t really any swelling.”